U.S. Pat. No. 3,167,490 describes a known array of electrical conductors comprising, conducting material deposited on individual filaments of a fabric, the conducting material encompassing the filaments to the extent that the filaments are first rendered conductive by a preliminary deposit of a conducting material on the filaments. Contact with a cathode in the form of a mesh or perforated sheet allows deposits of the conducting material onto the conducting filaments in a nonuniform manner. The conducting material is concentric with the conducting filaments and preserves interstices that coextend in the fabric with the filaments, such that the interstices are present throughout the conductors to provide a mesh that is permeable, meaning porous. The permeable conductors are subject to trapping contaminants in the interstices, and carry relatively low electrical current.
A further disadvantage of the known array of conductors resides in a requirement to render the fabric conductive prior to depositing conducting material onto the fabric.